Gayle King not as 'technically challenged' as she thinks

Apr. 2, 2013
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Gayle King. / Todd Plitt, USA TODAY

by Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY

by Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY

NEW YORK - Longtime broadcaster Gayle King, a co-host of CBS This Morning, is the first to say she's "technically challenged." But she used an app to track down her lost iPhone recently, and sleeps every night with a Jawbone Up health and fitness bracelet.

King, an editor-at-large for best bud Oprah Winfrey's O magazine, met us in the green room recently at CBS This Morning to talk tech.

JAWBONE UP

"I've always been a bad sleeper, and I was curious just how bad it was." CBS This Morning executive producer Chris Licht suggested the Up bracelet, which monitors your pulse to track sleep - as well as steps taken during the day, and food eaten, via a USB connection to an Android or iPhone. She's averaging four hours of sleep, and likes that with the Up, she can discover that one night she had 1 hour and 15 minutes of light sleep, 2 hours and 46 minutes of deep sleep and that she woke up one time during the night. "Is it good to know?... at least I'm thinking about it. Before I never thought about it, so that's good."

CHARLIE ROSE'S GIFT

After years of her just using a BlackBerry, CBS This Morning co-host Charlie Rose bought her an iPhone5. It is housed in a special yellow case (her favorite color) with her initials monogrammed on it. She named it "Charlotte" in honor of Rose.

RECOVERING THE PHONE

She recently misplaced Charlotte and took advantage of the "Find my iPhone" app to retrieve the device on 57th Street and Eighth Avenue, in front of the Hearst building, home to O magazine.

"I'm here to tell you it works."

APPS

She recently discovered Shazam, which identifies song information when held up to a radio or TV. "I was watching a piece about anchor Robin Roberts on Good Morning America and this pretty song was playing." She held the phone up to the TV, learned it was by Mandisa, bought it and transferred it to her iPod.

TECH CHALLENGES

She has nearly 700,000 followers on Twitter, even in the face of very infrequent Tweets. She was silent on Twitter for several weeks because she had trouble signing in with her BlackBerry, and also fretted that she had little to say. "I only tweet if I discover something that's fantastic, or if I heard something really great." On the tech side, "I wish I wasn't so technically challenged, because it puts you at a distinct disadvantage. I wish I could figure out a way to get more up to speed."

MAYOR BOOKER'S TWEETS

Her friend Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, N.J., "tweets too much, and I tell him that all the time." Booker, with 1.3 million Twitter followers, "is a master tweeter, a Twitter genius. You know what he would say to me? Gayle, stop talking. I know what I'm doing."

King is partnered with Booker in his next-generation video website, #waywire, for which she's an investor.

COMMUNICATING WITH BFF OPRAH WINFREY

"Telephone and e-mail. We don't text a lot."

TEXTERS

"People respond faster to you on a text than an e-mail. Why is that? Why will they ignore an e-mail, but get back to a text?"

A DEVICE SHE LUSTS AFTER?

"I wish there was something where you could blink an eye and be somewhere. I'm a very nervous flier. I wish we could get from point A to point B instantly. Tell somebody to do that."